It’s been a long time since I last work on any hobby project and update on my blog. Recently, I completed a mini project together with two of my friends. So I am going to take this opportunity to share the project that we have made, we named it the Bridge Monitoring System (BMS) using Wireless Sensor Network (WSN). We are required to design an embedded system that is related with disaster management, either mitigation, preparedness, response or rehabilitation. To give you a high level overview of this project, basically we created three sensor nodes that acquire sensor measurement and transmit to central hub through wireless network. The sensor network works in a many-to-one fashion and data processing is done on the central hub. All the sensor measurement from each node is also displayed on the Host PC for user interface. Therefore, in this article, I am going to walk through some details of the project and how it works. Continue reading “Bridge Monitoring System using Wireless Sensor Network”→

Recently I have received two Pro Mini 328 which I have ordered one month ago from Ebay. I bought them from gc_supermarket seller. Although Pro Mini was not something new from Arduino but it was my first time to use an Arduino Pro Mini so I am going to give my review on it. It might be useful for you in selecting which Arduino to use in your future projects. Summary of consideration in buying Pro Mini is available at the end of this article. Continue reading “Arduino Pro Mini 328 Review”→

Recently I have participated in CIKU contest held by Cytron Technologies. The requirement to participate in this contest is to share a photo/video on your project using the PIC development board, SK40C. Get more than 50 likes and win yourself a CIKU. So what is a CIKU? CIKU is a PIC18F4550 based Arduino Form Controller, a product by Cytron Technologies. For more info about CIKU, check out its official product page. I would also like to mention that CIKU is a product of Malaysia. Oh, by the way, CIKU is named after a tropical fruit, Sapodilla, which is called ciku in Malay. In this article, I am going to give an overview on CIKU together with its feature before hands on with it. Continue reading “CIKU, PIC18F4550 based Arduino Form Controller”→

In this tutorial, I am going to show a I/O expander method using PCF8574A, which is a 8 bit I/O expander using I2C bus. This is another alternative other than using shift registers to expand either inputs or outputs such as 74HC595 (outputs) or 74HC165 (inputs). One of the advantages of using PCF8574A I/O expander is that it uses I2C bus, which requires only two data lines, they are clock (SCK) and data (SDA). Therefore, with these two lines, you can control up to eight of the same chip by changing the address input, providing extra 64 I/O pins.

During my third year studying electronics engineering, I have made a wall following robot for the course EEE 351 Advanced Laboratory. This mini project is done in a team of four. For this project, we are required to apply control system theory into application, which lead us into making the wall following robot. As the name sounds, the robot’s main objective is to follow the wall within a target distance. In order to maintain certain distance from the wall, this is where we applied a digital controller, which is the PID controller. PID controller stands for Proportional, Integral and Derivative Controller which is used to calculate the error between the measured and desired set point and attempts to minimize the error. For more information about PID controller, have a look at Wiki. Continue reading “Wall Following Robot”→

Previously, I’ve made a tutorial on how to use a 74HC595 Serial In/ Parallel Out Shift Register, which is useful in expanding output pins. In this tutorial, I am going to show another shift register which is capable of expanding input pins. The IC that I am using is 74HC165 Parallel In/ Serial Out Shift Register. One of the advantages that need to be stressed on is that by using only four pins, I can get eight input pins. Moreover, it can be cascaded, thus you can have any amount of input pins with only four pins with the help of this shift register. Continue reading “74HC165 8 bit Parallel in/Serial out Shift Register”→

I had think of making a game on Arduino quite a while. An idea strikes to my mind while I was playing a quite popular game which is available on apps and pc, 2048. 2048 is actually a game created by Gabriele Cirulli, aged 19, Itallian web developer. The objective of this game is to slide the tiles and combine them to create the tile of 2048. Source: Wiki

Previously I have made a colour sensor using Arduino but don’t have the time to update it on my blog. Today I am going to share the details of this mini project. Basically, the sensor consists of three LEDs and Light Dependent Resistor (LDR). The LDR will detect the colour and display it to another RGB LED. Besides display it on the RGB LED, the colour will also display on PC. RGB LED is commonly used in display colours on LCD or OLED such as the monitor and television. Continue reading “Colour Sensor”→

While I was free during my holiday, I decided to make a simple Arduino Piano playing musical notes. Playing musical notes is quite simple with the Arduino built in function Tone(). Overall this project’s difficulty should be easy. Another reason I wanted to make this mini project, is to make a piano with 12 keys, but using lesser amount of pins. Continue reading “Arduino Piano”→